


Lost Life

by bevsnecklace



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, F/F, can be seen as one sided
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 21:42:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20749217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bevsnecklace/pseuds/bevsnecklace
Summary: After El and Will move away from Hawkins, Max needs some space from the town so asks her parents to let her visit Cali.





	Lost Life

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first piece of writing in like a year so it’s probably pretty bad ngl

It had been a long school year without El by her side, her best friend. and yes - of course Lucas, Dustin and Mike were great friends to her, but they weren't like El. She could tell El anything. there were many nights the two of them would stay up listening to mixtape's on the little yellow radio in El's room, or when they'd share a bed and stare up at the ceiling at talk about everything and anything. The times when they'd wake up snuggled into each other, their red and brown hair wrapped around each other, and never mention it again.

She could feel El drifting ever since the night that Hopper's cabin got destroyed. El was hurt, vulnerable and attacked in the place she called her home. And just as they were leaving, Max took a glance at the little yellow radio, an ominous feeling that she'd never hear a song played on it again.

When El moved away, it had become unbearable to even think about her. Unbearable to think about her smile, how happy she was when they read comic together whilst Max explained excitedly. It hurt to lay down at night, and know that El had once laid beside her.

Even at school with the other three, they all felt the absence of Will and El, but never brought it up. It hurt too much to talk about. And they couldn't. They couldn't talk about El; no one knew her. It felt like a secret. A secret Max didn't wanna keep. She wanted them to know. Know how great she was, how pretty she was, how smart she was.

So the following summer, Max asked her parents to take her to Cali. Just to visit. She'd never felt so judged by her parents. of course. how could she ask? That's where she left her life behind. But staying in Hawkins pained her. Looking around the places she'd been with El shot an arrow through her heart. Cupid must've fired the arrow too hard when he had pointed it at Max.

But, albeit reluctantly, her parents had agreed to take her to Cali. The car ride hurt her head. She couldn't talk to her parents. After all, they'd lost a son. And they were too busy grieving to talk to her. So instead, she'd created a mixtape to listen to on her way there. She held the headphones over her ears, pressing the small speakers - almost painfully - against the side of her head. It consisted of as many songs she'd listened to with El she could remember. Songs like 'Wouldn't It Be Nice?' and 'Stand By Me'.

When they got to the hotel, next to a beach, Max threw herself face down onto the closet best. The grey bedsheets were far from comfortable, but it had been more comfort than she'd had in the past year away from El.

She sat up, red hair falling in front of her eyes. She gazed around the room, noting the dull greys and odd spots of yellow. Like her radio.

The second last night of being there, Max snuck out. She slid the door key out of her mum's purse, hiding it in her pocket. Walking down the hotel hallway, her mind was racing with images of El. Her best friend. Her life.

She arrived on the beach, late enough that the tide was coming in but early enough to sit and watch the sky turn a deep shade of purple.

Tears stung Max's eyes, dangerously close to spilling. She sat as far away from the waves as she could. Staring at the sky reminded her of the time she's stayed at El's for the night and they spent the night debating which star was the brightest of the biggest.

Max stayed there long enough - as tears flowed steadily down her freckled face - that the stars did come out. Realising that the brightest star was also the largest, she smiled to herself and gave a dry laugh. She pushed herself up, brushing off her legs.

She went to walk away, but paused hastily. She knelt down, tracing a finger through the sand. The sand got caught under her nail, discomforting her. She was openly sobbing by this point, but it didn’t matter if anyone was looking. So what if they saw? She was leaving the next day to go back to her godawful hometown. Picking sand out of her nail, she stood back and looked at her handiwork.

_'El and Max'_

The words stood out in comparison to the pale sand. She'd dug the words in so deep that they'd gone a dark brown. The smile on her face was bittersweet in remembrance of all the memories she wasn’t going to be able to keep. Hell, she couldn’t even talk about El without crying so bringing up memories would worsen the pain she could always feel in her chest.

The next day, The day she left. The day Max left the room that reminded her of El's radio. 

Before they absolutely had to leave, she sprinted to the beach, back to the spot she'd been the night before. She looked desperately across the beach, attempting to find the words she'd carved into the soft surface only hours before.

But they weren't there. The tide had washed the words away as quickly as El had left. And that's when Max realised. She'd lost her life twice in Cali.


End file.
